Boaters, fishermen, hunters, and nature lovers who frequent the waters and shorelines of Southeast Michigan’s waterways can help federal, state, and local governments with the job of discovering incidents of water pollution. Your help could lead to rapid clean up of oil spills, provide evidence for enforcing pollution laws, and possibly protect others from harm. This citizens guide has been prepared to provide specific information on how to perform this important community service.

Because government inspectors cannot possibly monitor every mile of river nor every yard of shoreline every moment of every day. In fact, budget reductions in recent years have severely limited monitoring efforts by government agencies. Although industries and cities have the responsibility of controlling and monitoring their legal discharges to rivers and stream there are times that accidents occur. There are times when loads of oil and chemicals are dumped into storm sewers or illegally discharged directly to waterways. When you see someone dumping something into a sewer, something unusual being discharged from a pipe or when you see unusual substances in or floating on the water, we ask you to report what you see to an appropriate government agency.